Visiting Film Noir: Private Hell 36

1954 Film Noir

From: The Filmakers Releasing 

Directed by Don Siegel

Starring

Ida Lupino

Steve Cochran

Howard Duff

Dean Jagger

Dorothy Malone

These three lead actors, Lupino, Duff and Cochran, were born to play in noirs and each has a packet of them on their résumés for good reason.  If someone wanted a handsome guy from the dark side who had few scruples and no hesitation to pump a bunch of bullets into someone and smack a dame around, I expect someone said see if Steve Cochran is available.

Remember Lupino playing a worn-out, down-on-her-luck, depressed, piano-playing chanteuse in the excellent 1948 noir, Road House?  Remember how good she was?  Well, she's back at the piano.  I always thought the actress was depressed and hard.  Very noirish.  Like Cochran, her life was a noir.

In a number of the noirs Duff was in, he often played a cop.  But he's also been a bad cop and sometimes just the film's bad guy.  No matter where he fell in line here, Duff was usually unhappy, cynical and flippant... like the true noir veteran he was.

The plot concerns a bank robbery of $300,000 that goes unsolved for a year or so.  Then some of the marked bills are found in a drugstore theft.  Detectives Duff and Cochran investigate and soon find a $50 bill from the robbery was given to nightclub singer Lupino as a tip.  They have a chat and she says she might recognize him again but mugshots produce nothing.  Then she mentions the guy played the horses so the trio hightails it to the racetrack.

In the meantime, Cochran is falling hard for Lupino and there are a number of scenes that focus on their relationship.  Duff is happily married to Dorothy Malone.  The differences between the two cops couldn't be more apparent.  We know Cochran is a shady character and Duff is decidedly not.  They don't have that bond that we often hear is evident with cop partners.

Cochran and Lupino

Finally, with Lupino's continued help, they spot the robber in the parking lot of the racetrack and a car chase ensues.  On a winding road in the hills the man dies when his car goes over an embankment.  The case with the stash opens and bills fly everywhere.   As Duff is hustling to pick up the money, Cochran runs to the case and before closing it realizes there's an awful lot of money in it.  Duff watches him stuff what we will learn is $100,000 in his pockets.  Duff is appalled at what he is seeing and trying to talk to Cochran proves futile.

Duff implores Cochran to put the money back but the latter says no.  He claims they can share it but Duff says no deal.  Cochran knows three things for sure... (1) he's nervous about Duff, (2) they have to sit on the money for awhile and (3) while Lupino doesn't have a pot to pee in, he feels she will have to have a man who can afford to give her the things she wants.  Cochran stashes the loot in a trailer, number 36.

Duff and Malone

Both men fail to recognize the wiliness of their captain Dean Jagger who questions them a couple of times.  The men go about their personal business while the money cools down.  Cochran and Lupino join Duff and Malone for a family BBQ but Duff is getting increasingly uneasy about remaining quiet and Cochran knows it.

The two detectives meet at a diner and Duff says he is going to turn in the money to Jagger.  Cochran says that won't happen because he needs the money to take Lupino to Acapulco.  They repair to No. 36 to retrieve the dough as gunfire erupts amid the sounds of Jagger's voice.  Things just don't work out as planned in film noir.

Dean Jagger

The Filmakers Inc., a production company, was formed in 1948 with Lupino as vice-president and her then-husband Collier Young as president.  The goal was to produce, write and direct low-budget, issue-oriented films.  Private Hell 36 was the last production involving Young and Lupino who by 1954 were divorced and Lupino was mainly unhappily married to Duff.

So just imagine... Lupino is on the set with her ex-husband, her current husband, and having an on-going affair with Cochran.  How did they ever get the work done?

Lupino was originally going to act and direct but decided against the latter because she didn't think Duff would react well to his wife bossing him around.  She handed over the reins to Don Siegel who was already known for his expertly-crafted, intelligent and tough B movies.  He was determined to look beyond the drama behind the scenes and to bring in an effective and stylish little noir with his usual verve and wryness.   He hired the future maverick director Sam Peckinpah as dialogue director.

Siegel got on well with Young and his cast.  He was quite fond of Lupino but perhaps reserved his admiration for Cochran whom he thought was a very good actor and a superb choice for a noir but said that the actor was often drunk while working and the two had words about that.

I thought Cochran was the best thing about the movie.  He was always up for a walk on the wild side in his personal life and it usually showed up on the screen as well.  He brought a reckless sexiness to the screen, again marrying his personal and professional lives.  It's his film all the way.

Cochran, Lupino, Duff

Duff was likely ill-at-ease in real life at the time of filming and he used that well for his character.  With all the impropriety that insinuates its way into noirs, some character has to stand up for what's right and in this case it's Duff.

Lupino's often hard-luck, depressing characters are exactly what noirs need.  She was never exactly the sex-kitten type, so popular in noirs, but she was a superior actress who co-wrote the story so she could obviously carve out the perfect role for herself.

Jagger, one of my favorite character actors ever, is sharp as a tack here.  Malone, unfortunately, isn't given much to do but her time would come in a couple of years.

I found the title obtuse.  

Here's a trailer:

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While we're in a noir mood